The Hidden Stories Of Songs
We all listen to music everyday and for most of us, we know the words to a song, but never gave those words a second thought. Recently, I was surprised to find out the meaning of a song "Blackbird", by The Beatles.
I was at a Paul McCartney concert when Paul started to tell the story of the song. He wrote the song in reaction to what he was hearing in England about the American civil rights movement. He tried to put himself in the place of a young black girl who was coming of age and the difficulties that she would be having here in the states. He thought of how it must have been so hard for her, and yet the civil rights movement gave her hope. And as he sang the song, This got me thinking. For all the times I had heard that song, I never realized the true meaning of the song. It was so clear, after Sir Paul told his story.
So this started me looking into the meanings of other songs that had interesting words, that seemed like they might have a deeper meaning. I was really surprised at the back stories to many of my favorite songs. So I thought it would be fun to do this. Pick a song that you like and share the meaning of the song that goes beyond the obvious. This should be fun as well as interesting.
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So I will start this with the song "My Old School" by Steely Dan.
Both Donald Fagan and Walter Becker met and became friends at Bard College in Annandale, NY. The usual way for kids to go to the college from downstate was to take the train line nicknamed the "Wolverine". Once at school, they apparently set up shop selling and of course smoking, massive amounts of pot at the college. Fagen's girlfriend got picked up by the police for holding.. and this is where the story gets interesting....
Apparently a very zealous local District Attorney, G. Gordon Liddy.. (yes the one from Watergate), decided to let her go, if she helped him in a sting. Both Fagen and Becker were arrested in a pot raid on a party that was orchestrated by the ambitious young G. Gordon Liddy (hence the line "Tried to warn ya about Geno and Daddy G") with the help of the girlfriend (Well, I did not think the girl, Could be so cruel), and both Fagen and Becker were arrested. They never graduated from Bard College (and I'm never going back to my old school).
The song makes perfect sense now.
My problem is a lot of what I listen to, there is no hidden meaning. They put it right there in your face:
Slayer - Pride In Prejudice - the bullshit of racism
S.O.D. - The Crackhead Song - It's about crackheads.
Death - Living Monstrosity - Effects of cocaine
Demolition Hammer - Aborticide - Abortion
I think the closest thing I listen to that would have a hidden meaning would be:
Black Sabbath - Snow Blind
Black Sabbath - Sweet Leaf
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles) Well, maybe the meaning is not SO hidden. I know they had a "straight" interpretation for it.
This is a really interesting article about many possible interpretations and hidden meanings in Bob Dylan's song: Mr. Tambourine Man. Dylan himself gives no explanation.
Bungle In the Jungle Delving into Jethro Tull's song on life.
I can't say that I have favorite song, kind of depends on my feeling at the time. This one reminds me of being in college and just hanging out with my friend Bob. We were into philosophy and gleaning the meanings from songs. The above article is very interesting and how modern humans don't really live in the present and realize the dangers around them.
Come on folks this isn't that hard...
Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Fly from Heaven".
Although I had heard the words many times, they didn't make any sense. I once heard a DJ say it was about one brother lamenting over the loss of his brother to a cult, and the words kind of fit that well.
But then I heard another explanation, on an interview I heard with the band and found out that it was about how Jesus' brother James was very upset at how Paul was twisting the meaning of Jesus' words to gain converts. The song is sung from James' perspective.
I've always been a big RUSH fan most of their songs where written with meaning.
Neil Peart wrote the lyrics to a majority of Rush's work and as a drummer he is unbelieveable as well.
One of my favorites is "Something for nothing"
But what is the meaning?
And btw, love Rush, too.
That's what I like about RUSH the mean(s) are right up front. Each song has its own meaning or lesson.
"Something for nothing" is a good example. the meaning is ya get nothing for nothing work for what you want.
"New world man" has always also been a favorite. For me it represents my love of being alive in this time of history.
Rush's Lakeside Park is about one of my favorite getaway locations, Port Dahlousie, St. Catherines, Ontario. I believe Neal grew up there and spent a lot of his early youth on the beach. It's a great little out of the way town (barely hanging on) with great people and a restored merry-go-round that costs a nickel to ride.
I'm very fond of Rush's "Time Stand Still"
I know all the words but I don't know if there is a back story to it. I'm assuming it's Neil Peart's way of expressing his feelings of mortality. I just know I want it played at my funeral
That's planning ahead, LOL!
What can I say? I'm a planner not a spur of the moment kind of gal
I even have all the arrangements made when I die. All I need now is the date and time and I'm set
LOL.. you crack me up girl..
I'm planning on living forever. Of course the aches I wake up with, tell me something different.
Uh huh! So you planned to break the internet a few years ago?...Gotcha.
That wasn't me! That was the Queen of the Universe...BizEBea!
Love Rush lyrics..........Witch Hunt, Camera Eye, Losing It, Countdown, side one of 2112......hell, the whole album..........
This is the greatest song ever in my humb le opinion
I'm not looking for the hidden meaning behind it it. I made up my own.
Enjoy
Of all the Zep songs why is that your favorite? Btw, they are probably, other than the Beatles my all time favorite band. I can't even pick a song.
This song is the 'elixir' of the 'gods'! In my imagination, each time I hear this song, I see giant magical speakers blasting sound and voice from Earth to all quadrants of time and space. Man! Robert Plant's voice is killing this song and the band is painting the walls. I am being "taken there" in a Master Class performance — I've got goose bumps all over again! (I have no hidden meaning for Kashmir right now. Just GOLDEN!!)
Your description is GOLDEN!
The song builds and builds. . . .
The Doors Peace Frog has few different hidden meanings behind the song.
Doors guitarist Robby Krieger came up with the guitar riff. The lyrics were based on two of Jim Morrison's poems, one called "Abortion Stories," which is where the bloody images came from.
This song was written in the studio. After Krieger got the guitar riff, Jim Morrison came up with the lines, "She came, she came, she came, just about the break of day." Their producer, Paul Rothchild, wanted to fill out the lyric, so he and Morrison when through Jim's notebooks and found the poems to create the lyrics.
The lyrics about the Indians refer to an auto accident involving a group of Indians that Morrison's family came across on the highway. Morrison, who was a child at the time, felt that the ghosts of the Indians took up residence in his soul. This scene is portrayed at the beginning of Oliver Stone's movie, The Doors.
The lyric, "Blood in the streets of the town of Chicago" refers to the 1968 democratic convention, where police in riot gear brutally beat protesters.
The lyric, "Blood in the streets of the town of New Haven" refers to Morrison's arrest in New Haven in 1967. From the stage, the enraged singer explained that he was with a girl before the show, and, "We started talking and we wanted some privacy and so went into this little show room. We weren't doing anything. You know, just standing there talking, and then this little man in a little blue suit and a little blue cap came in there. He said 'Whatcha doin' there?' 'Nothin'.' But he didn't go away, he stood there and then he reached round behind him and brought out this little black can of something. It looked like shaving cream. And then he sprayed it in my eyes. I was blinded for about 30 minutes."
At this point, three police officers came onstage and arrested Morrison for breach of the peace, giving an indecent and immoral exhibition and resisting arrest. He managed to strike a crucifixion pose before he was taken away, and some audience members fought with cops.
That song is actually called Peace Frog .
I must be missing something here. As opposed to what?
Oppps.. my bad... I didn't see that Dean. Sorry!
I think this may actually surprise a lot of people, but the actual name of the song is: Peace Frog.
I was blaring this on my way to work this morning-
Of the song, Jagger said:
“
"You Can't Always Get What You Want" was something I just played on the acoustic guitar—one of those bedroom songs. It proved to be quite difficult to record because Charlie couldn't play the groove and so Jimmy Miller had to play the drums. I'd also had this idea of having a choir, probably a gospel choir, on the track, but there wasn't one around at that point. Jack Nitzsche, or somebody, said that we could get the London Bach Choir and we said, "That will be a laugh."[3]
Meaning[edit]
The three verses (along with the varied theme in the fourth verse) address the major topics of the 1960s: love, politics, and drugs. Each verse captures the essence of the initial optimism and eventual disillusion, followed by the resigned pragmatism in the chorus.[citation needed]
Unterberger noted:
“
Much has been made of the lyrics reflecting the end of the overlong party that was the 1960s, as a snapshot of Swinging London burning out. That's a valid interpretation, but it should also be pointed out that there's also an uplifting and reassuring quality to the melody and performance. This is particularly true of the key lyrical hook, when we are reminded that we can't always get what we want, but we'll get what we need.[4]
”
A man named Jimmy Hutmaker of Excelsior, Minnesota, claimed that he was the "Mr. Jimmy" mentioned in the song and that he said the phrase "you can't always get what you want" to Jagger during a chance encounter at a drug store in Excelsior in 1964.[6]
David Dalton, a writer for Rolling Stone who witnessed the filming of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus claims in his commentary track for the DVD of the concert that "Mr. Jimmy" refers to Jimmy Miller, the producer of all of the Rolling Stones' albums from Beggar's Banquet (1968) through Goat's Head Soup (1973), and the drummer on "You Can't Always Get What You Want".[
Wow, I never knew any of that. Thanks for the story!!
Hit me hard after my first child.....but there were a few GOOD things that came out of it. I made it up to my first child, and NEVER let it happen again with my next two.
That is a great song and Harry Chapin was one of our best songwriters of the period.
Taxi, was one of my mom's favorite songs ever. She used to sing the last refrain to herself:
It's strange, how you never know
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for
Such a long, long time ago
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
I took off for the sky
Inside her handsome home
And me, I'm flying in my taxi
Taking tips, and getting stoned
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned
:)
You just have to know my mom... that song went right over dad's head.
Love that song...
Here is another one about how Harry met his wife.
I saw Don McClain in concert (small venue) doing 'American Pie'...lots of meanings ascribed to it. Here's an article with interviews of Don himself:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/08/gloomy-don-mclean-reveals-meaning-of-american-pie-and-sells-lyrics-for-1-2-million/?utm_term=.167e4d61cba0
Love that song. Also Vincent. He was very talented. The 70's was a great time for songs that told stories.
I believe Louie Louie was popular at fraternity parties (because it was thought to be obscene).
But then there were several other groups popular at frat parties, such as Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts, who did songs where the meaning was somewhat hidden (or was it?)
HOT NUTS
"Bang, Bang Lou-Lou" is a classic with an interesting history. Obscenities are "disguised" by singing "Bang, bang Lou Lou" every time they occur. (Hidden meanings?)
In 1955 the movie ''Blackboard Jungle'' was released, the score to the movie was Bill Haley and the Comets, ''Rock Around The Clock''...Both the movie and the song were ground breaking and promptly banned in many cities and towns across American.
I had heard someone claim that Rock Around the Clock was the first Rock /n Roll song-- but its not. A lot of sources say the first R'NR song was Rocket 88:
Here's a related article:
5 Candidates for the First Rock 'n' Roll Song
''We Were All Wounded At Wounded Knee'' by Red Bone, a Native American band was released in 1973. 1973 was also the ''Siege at Wounded Knee'' AIM and supporters battled the U.S. government for 71 days.
Red Bone was told not to release the song because of what was happening at Wounded Knee, told it would kill their careers. They refused and released in the US and Europe. Many radio stations banned the song, but it was a hit in Europe. It did not kill there careers and was a voice of the Indian people.
Well they released 'Come and get your love" in 1974 and it went to #1 so I think they did OK for themselves.
Btw.. never knew that story about Wounded Knee. Good for them!
I'm not at all good at understanding hidden meanings, even the obvious ones, because I rarely hear the lyrics properly and always seem to sing the wrong words. My husband, who can hear lyrics, tells me what they are, and I'm always shocked! So THAT's what they meant....
For example, I always thought that the song "Lay Down" was "Play Ground". But that's not the worst... I thought the words to "Who Are You" by the Who, were saying New Orleans. For some time, I wondered why they would play a song about New Orleans on a show set in Las Vegas...
Not real bright, sometimes...
Dowser,
Don't call yourself dumb. The point of this little fun article is that you are not supposed to have known what the song was about and then you found out. I never thought that "Blackbird" was anything but a pretty song. Who would have thought it was about the civil rights movement here in the states?
Here's one that I misinterpreted for about 30 years-- Lola by the Kinks. I had no idea that it was about a gay man...
Don't worry Dowser.. neither did the singer. LOL!
I do the same thing!
Actually its fairly common.
I just seeded an article about that:
13 Commonly Misheard Song Lyrics That Are Way Funnier Than The Real Ones
Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
Most people think this song was written about his feelings about the other Beatles.
Here is George's explanation:
I wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps at my mother's house in Warrington. I was thinking about the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Changes... The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there's no such thing as coincidence - every little item that's going down has a purpose.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book - as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw 'gently weeps', then laid the book down again and started the song.
Love George. He was such a good guy and so underrated when it came to his talent.
I had always heard that the song was about the breakup of his marriage. Which of course led to Clapton's song about his break up from Pattie Boyd.
I actually hate song lyrics that you have to be told what they mean. To me, that’s like making up a word and using it in conversation with people. I prefer song lyrics that are both creative and intuitive.
Here’s an oldie by Todd Rundren that few will recognize. It’s got clear lyrics, folksy pop hooks, and a point. The only mystery is the the name - Lysistrata. Apparently, going off the rest of the the lyrics, that is a woman’s name. That someone would write a song about a woman with such a bizarre name, that’s nearly impossible to rhyme with, is interesting. He does manage to rhyme with it though. Kinda reminds me of eminem’s ability to rhyme anything.
Lysistrata is a play by Aristophanes. The women of Greece and the women of Sparta decide to put an end to the Peloponnesian War by going on a sex strike until the men agree to peace talks. Lysistrata is the character who comes up with the idea of the sex strike.
Thank you for the background, Sandy. It makes so much more sense now. I like the song even more now.
Love Todd. Went to see him last year and he still gives a great concert.
One song of his that was always a mystery to me "Hello, It's Me". He seems very conflicted.
Here is the backstory:
Remarkably, it was the first song Rundgren ever wrote. In his teens, Todd was an avid listener to music but it was only when he put The Nazz together at the age of 19 that the young musician realized that now he was fronting a band, and he'd better start penning some material. He attributes the sophistication and success of this song to the vast amount of listening he'd done by the time he wrote it.
Google is your friend!
Lysistrata.
I've seen plenty of references to hidden meanings in music, and I think to some extent all the best music was written with a particular thought in mind.
I'm an avid Van Morrison fanatic, he is a great storyteller and every album is a reflection of his mood or phase filled with stories, some personal but he never explains his music. He even changes the genre with almost every release. I hated his "country" phase....
Talk about hidden meanings
[jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="UaEC-lWSlmI"]
Chuck Berry – My Ding A Ling Lyrics
When I was a little bitty boy
My Grandmother bought me a cute little toy
Silver bells hanging on a string
She said it was my Ding a ling a ling
Oh my ding a ling, Everybody sing
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
Oh my ding a ling, my ding a ling
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
(I forgot to tell you it's a little jerk, Right there, A little jerk in it, Right there, Can't do without that jerk, Yeah)
When I started Grammar School
I used to stop off in the vestibule
Every time that bell would ring
I'd take out my ding a ling a ling
Oh my ding a ling, Everybody sing
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
My ding a ling, my ding a ling
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
(Here come that jerk again, Mmh, Does something good to ya)
Humpty dumpty on the wall
Humpty had an awful fall
When they went to tell the king
Caught him playing with his ding a ling
Oh my ding a ling, my ding a ling
Come on now everybody sing
My ding a ling, my ding a ling
I wanna play with my ding a ling
(Oh yeah, Got something to it)
I remember the girl next door
We used to play house on the kitchen floor
I'd be king, she'd be queen
Together we'd play with our ding a ling a ling
My ding a ling, Oh my
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
(Mmh)
When they took me to Sunday School
Tried to teach me the golden rule
But every time the quire would sing
Catch me playing with my ding a ling
Oh my ding a ling, my ding a ling
I wanna play with my ding a ling
My ding (That's right), my ding a ling
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
(You know, I didn't hear everybody singing, Everybody joins in on that course)
This here song, it ain't to sad
Cutest little song you ever had
Those of you, who will not sing
You must be playing with your own ding a ling
Oh my ding a ling, my ding a lin (Come on now, Come on now, Everybody sing)
Now my ding a, oh my ding a
I wanna play with my ding a ling
(Oh yeah, Oh yeah, Oh yeah)
LOL
So I was wondering what the all time number one selling song is-
Crosby's "White Christmas" single has been credited with selling 50 million copies, the most by any release and therefore it is the biggest-selling single worldwide of all time. The Guinness Book of World Records 2009 Edition lists the song as a 100-million seller, encompassing all versions of the song, including albums.[4][5] Crosby's holiday collection Merry Christmas was first released as an LP in 1949, and has never been out of print since.
There has been confusion and debate on whether Crosby's record is or is not the best-selling single, due to a lack of information on sales of "White Christmas," because Crosby's recording was released before the advent of the modern-day US and UK singles charts.[17] However, after careful research, Guinness World Records in 2007 concluded that, worldwide, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has, in their estimation, sold at least 50 million copies, and that Elton John's recording of "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold 33 million, making Crosby's recording the best-selling single of all time.[2] However, an update in the 2009 edition of the book decided to further help settle the controversy amicably by naming both John's and Crosby's songs to be "winners" by stating that John's recording is the "best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s," while maintaining that "the best-selling single of all time was released before the first pop charts," and that this distinction belongs to "White Christmas," which it says "was listed as the world's best-selling single in the first-ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later."[18]
“I wrote the song because God give me that,” a weary [James] Brown insisted. “But the business, y’all got it. It always result back to the lawyers and other people. The artist, you can find them on the street, going crazy.”
The Lord God cast the man into a deep sleep and, while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib, which the Lord God took from the man, he made into a woman, and brought her to him. Then the man said “She is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, for from man she has been taken.”
—Genesis 2: 21-23
Betty Newsome says she first conceived of “Man’s World” after reading Genesis. “I was just reading the Bible and thinking about how wonderful and powerful man is . . . God, he can create, he can take man’s rib out of his body and make a woman. I was just sitting there and thinking about how, after all of these things that he made and he did, all of it was worthless without a woman—and you gotta have them kids—or a girl. That’s where the girl part comes in.”
Betty says she wrote down the lyrics and later hummed the melody to a preacher who could read music. That’s why the song is sanctified to her: It was inspired by the Bible, talks of Creation, and was transcribed by a preacher. It was a gospel song, she insists. Of course, to Betty, there’s no mystery as to how a song that started so sanctified could wind up so sexual. “He was James—he could do whatever he wanted to do with a song,” she says. “He could have turned the Bible around into a song if he wanted to. James was fabulous. You could say, ‘Good morning,’ and he could take those same words and make a song out of it.”
Joni was reading Tolkien's Henderson the Rain King about a man taking a flight to Africa and he is in a plane looking down on clouds. . . Joni is in a plane looking down on clouds. So she writes the first verse of "Both Sides Now" (1967). Also, this song was triggered by Joni's broken heart of putting her child up for adoption (they are back together after many, many, year apart, today). She was a tormented and destitute, unwed mother. She had been experimented on in the hospital. This song was a meditation on fantasy and reality. Half childlike wonder about looking at clouds and. . . . The song is one of her most covered by other artists.
"Take It Easy" is a song written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, and recorded by the Eagles with Frey singing lead vocals. It was the band's first single, released on May 1, 1972. It peaked at No. 12 on the July 22, 1972 Billboard Hot 100 chart.[2][3] It also was the opening track on the band's debut album Eagles and it has become one of their signature songs, included on all of their live and compilation albums. It is listed as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Ah-- The Eagles!!
And speaking of "Hidden Stories in Songs"-- how about Hotel California?
Anyone want to speculate about what it means?
Ode To Billie Jo